


Persona 5: Spectrum

by Elewd



Category: Persona 5, persona - Fandom
Genre: AU, Coma, Detective, First Person, Gen, Illness, Mystery, Pure Uncut Dumbassery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-01-13 14:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18470575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elewd/pseuds/Elewd
Summary: [Based on the bad ending of Persona 5][Spoilers ahead]When the leader of the Phantom Thieves strikes a deal with the god of distortion, they become praised and loved worldwide. But there are some who still see the truth. With the mysterious Apathy Syndrome apparently returning, with no one trying to stop it, how will Tokyo recover.Perhaps, if fate is so kind, a new hero will be found.It is their job, to take down the Phantom Thieves!





	1. The Way the Wheels Roll

**Author's Note:**

> Author's notes:
> 
> Prepare yourself for what I can only describe as the vanilla “My Immortal” of Persona.  
> I can take criticism but I will cry, so have that on your conscience.

CHAPTER 1: THE WAY THE WHEEL ROLLS

 

“A pact between a false god and a human we placed our hopes on. Even we could not have predicted this. You have even undone my master's wish... You are a Trickster after all...”

And thus, the world carried on as it once had. The hopeless masses carried on, day-by-day, blissfully ignorant to those pulling the strings. Children laughed, adults cried, and all was as it was. The Phantom Thieves were praised for their feats, and only rose in popularity every day. It was a wonder no one had discovered who they were at this point. Even the great detective Goro Akechi had given up, a case he declared “unsolvable, no matter the skill of the sleuth.”

Still, there was a stubborn hope, by a minute community, that the real truth would be uncovered, no matter how minuscule of a chance there was. Scattered around the globe, there were those who felt... uneasy, about everything; as if something had gone horribly wrong somewhere.

But at that particular time, I was oblivious.

My head lay against a vibrating wall, as the train clattered along. Uncomfortable, yes, but I was soundly asleep, until I arrived at my destination. Tokyo, a metropolitan prefecture with a population of over nine million, at least, that’s what Wikipedia says. 

This would be my first time ever staying in the city, and for a full year, no less. All due to my mother's “work-related shenanigans”, as she so eloquently put it. I couldn’t really blame her, to be completely honest, and I was going to use this opportunity in the best way possible. I’d make friends and hit the books; I wasn’t about to let some ridiculous move put my life behind me.  
“I'm in my prime, baby!” I'd said to myself in the mirror before I left,  
“And I’m going to live my life to the fullest!”

The train slowed to a halt, as a jolted awake just in time to hear the announcement.  
“This is Yongen-Jaiya, Yongen-Jaiya”, my stop.  
I hauled my suitcase down, put my rucksack on, and exited the station, completely prepared for my new year.

I found myself making my way through a surprisingly quiet part of the city, with only the occasional shopper passing by. I followed my map to the quiet backstreets and searched for my destination. And, after a couple of missed attempts, I found myself outside the right house.

I pressed the buzzer and waited. I hadn’t seen the owner of this house in at least 10 years, in fact, I hardly knew anything about them at all. But, this is where I’d need to stay for this year, so I needed to suck it up, and just get on with it.

“This is the Atsui house,” fuzzed a tired voice through the small speaker,  
“How can I help?”

I said my name, and the heard the door slowly open from the other side. In front of me, was a young man in his late twenties, who had obviously not kept a decent track of their sleep, and had failed to properly look after his disheveled hair. This man, was my cousin, Toya Atsui. If you were any random stranger and I’d told you that this man was a police officer within the Tokyo police, you would probably accuse me of slander, but no matter how you look at it, them's the facts. 

“Ah, I didn’t think you'd be so late!” He said, an honest smile slowly appearing on his face,  
“Come in, come in! I haven’t had time to tidy up, but there's coffee and... other stuff to drink, I guess...”

After a short while of kerfufuling, we were both seated in the middle of the living room, coffee in hand, going over what we needed to know. I was going to be living here for a year after all, and I was already incredibly lucky to have a family member willing to look after me for that long. The plan was for me to spend a year studying at Kosei High School until my mother returns. That was really all there was to it. Admittedly, I came at a bad time though.

The Phantom Thieves of hearts were famous all around the globe; a group of renegade rebels who would “change the hearts” of criminals! Or, at least, that’s what everyone said. But there was also another mystery plaguing Tokyo, in the form of an unknown condition that seemed to be affecting completely random people. Citizens of Tokyo would just collapse at random, seemingly emptied of all spirit; like they'd had it forcibly stolen from within them, leaving them almost completely comatose.

The cause of these collapses was, supposedly, a thing called: “Apathy Syndrome”, and I had arrived here, smack-bang in the middle of an epidemic.

Still, my heart was full of reckless abandon and teenage naivety, and I couldn’t care less about those sorts of things. I was going to make friends, improve my grades, and not get myself involved in an extreme supernatural mystery, the likes of which I’d never witnessed before.

Though by the time I had fallen asleep, one of those goals had already been failed.

This wasn’t the first time I had dreamt about falling, after all, my vertigo plagued me frequently. But this time was different, it felt very real. Not in the sense that I was particularly worried for my life, I obviously knew this was a dream, but it felt like this dream was something special. This, however, was the first time I’d ever landed.

I was in a completely empty room, a completely mysterious room, a completely... blue... room. It was a perfectly square room, with curtains draped over the walls, giving the illusion of an empty tent. Well, it wasn’t entirely empty. Just slightly askew from the centre, a dusty piano lay, obviously unused. It’s keys were still loose when touched, and the mechanics were still in working order, good enough to play if I could. 

But it was what lay upon the keys that caught my attention. It looked like a terrible disguise, no, a party mask. A masquerade mask covered in vines, with two horns protruding out of the top, not unlike a deer. This entire room looked like an abandoned performance piece, and I didn’t want to hang around any longer. And, as if someone had read my mind, I was awake.

Of course, it was all just a dream, nothing to be worried about. A dream caused by moving stress. That’s all. I just needed to get up, and get ready for the day.  
So that’s what I did.

The effects of my interrupted sleep became obvious on the way to school, it was hard keeping focused during the slow traffic.  
“I get ya' kid,” yawned Toya,  
“I’ve been living here for like... 9 years, and I’m still worn out by it all.”  
At some point on the way, I must have fallen asleep again, because I was awoken by Toya when we arrived.

I made my way through the gates of Kosei High, the so called “Respectable Sister” of Tokyo. According to Toya, it got that name after another nearby school had a sex-scandal of sorts, leaving concerned parents sending their children to Kosei instead.  
Students filled the halls, most looking worryingly well-kept, and as I made my way to the faculty office, I started to worry that the school's standards might be too high for myself.

I cast the idea out of my head as Toya opened the door and introduced me to the headmaster. I sat awkwardly to the side, still half-awake, as all the details were finalised.  
“She'll be in Mr. Engel's class, that’s 2-A,” disclosed the headmaster, turning to face me,  
“Would you be able to sign your name here?”

The headmaster slid a sheet of paper across the table. A contract. A contract for me to sign, certifying my attendance to the school.  
I picked up a pen, and wrote my name out in the neatest handwriting I could, as to present myself well.

Toya gave a half smile as the headmaster nodded slowly.  
“Well this all appears to be in order,” the headmaster stood up and shook my hand, with and honest smile on his face.  
“Welcome to Kosei High, Miss Kiko Atsui.”


	2. Regular Breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goro Akechi has a regularly scheduled breakdown.

CHAPTER 2: REGULAR BREAKDOWN

 

“GOD-!“  
From within the interrogation room, hidden multiple metres below the ground, a metallic slam could be heard, as if a chair had been kicked across a room.  
“DAMN IT!”

Detective Goro Akechi found himself alone inside the interrogation room, letting his foot have its painful way with a foldable chair. He didn’t have to worry about the security camera; after all, it was fake.  
The crux to his rage was the recent political scandal, centred around the former cabinet member, Masayoshi Shido. Which was -of course- brought about by the Phantom Thieves.

Now, of course, this was a serious issue for all of Japan. Masayoshi Shido was the only “viable” candidate for president, and his change of heart had thrown a massive knife-shaped wrench into the spleen-shaped cogs of the corrupt police force.

Akechi was, without doubt, thoroughly enraged. The Phantom Thieves had taken what was, quite literally, his only life goal. He had spent his entire life building up the perfect persona of a detective prodigy, just so that he could “personally, thrust Masayoshi Shido into a living hell.” But what's the point if he'd already been emotionally destroyed?!

Akechi started at the broken chair for a good few seconds before he left, and closed the door behind him. What now? As he gathered his few belongings together he desperately tried to find something to keep him going. If he couldn’t exact his rightful revenge on his sinful father, what should he obsess over?!

He made his way into the lift and decided to get as far away from this place as soon as he could. Lo and behold, on his way back, he encountered one, Sae Niijima.

Sae Niijima, was a prosecutor, and a pretty damn good one at that. She boasted a win:lose ratio verging on the prime. But right now, she was the chief investigator on the Phantom Thieves case. And, though he would never dare say it out loud, Akechi thought that with her in charge, the case was going backwards.

The prodigy prosecutor exchanged a quick glance with the prodigy detective.  
“Ah, Detective,” she said, strongly utilising that passive-aggressiveness that you never outright hear, but YOU KNOW she's implying.  
“Have you made any progress on the Phantom Thieves case?”

Akechi straightened up his tie and stared her dead in the eyes.  
“Did you know it takes five-hundred pounds to crush a human skull?”  
“What-?”  
“That's not including emotional weight of course.”

Akechi then dropped his briefcase and walked swiftly out of the SIU building, making no regards to the concerned onlookers. He would later return to get his suitcase back, but at the current moment, he was very slightly feral.


	3. ENTERING THE HEART

CHAPTER 3: ENTERING THE HEART

 

Well, for a first day, I don’t think I did that bad. I hadn’t made any friends yet, but it was only the beginning; there would most certainly be a crowd of companions around me wherever I walked by the end of the year! At least that’s what I said.

However, my self-contained monologue temporarily disabled my basic motor skills, causing me to trip over something on the ground. I managed to put my hand in front of my face before hitting the ground, so I managed to escape with only a nasty-looking bruise.   
I got up, brushed myself off, and looked at what I tripped over. It was a girl, probably no older than me, unconscious on the ground. She seemed rather frail; perhaps malnourished. We had the same uniform, so she was definitely a third year; she might have been in my class that day, now that I think back to it.  
“Oh my god,” I muttered under my breath,  
“I’ve just killed someone!”

Then the body shakedly propped itself onto its knees, and wiped itself off of any dirt and rubble.  
“Oh thank goodness you’re not dead!” I sighed in relief. She looked at me like a confused parent looks at a child and put on a pair of glasses that had been apparently launched across the floor when she had fallen. She stood up, wobbling a little, and looked me in the eyes. I stared back, but neither of us were able to initiate a conversation.  
She nodded to me and turned around to walk away, but not three steps later, and she was already falling again. I managed to grab a couple of her fingers, and she grabbed the door behind her, propping herself upright.  
“Sorry about all this,” she said, weakly,  
“My legs don’t work with me sometimes.” She chuckled a little to herself sadly, and stood upright. I didn’t want to tell her that it was probably me who initiated the fall earlier, so I just chuckled along too.  
“If it’s not too much of a hassle, would you be able to support me to the doors, I should be fine from then.” I let her lean her weight against me as we slowly made our way outside, where she got into a wheelchair, tied to the bike rack. 

Her name was Miho Kadokawa, so she said. Apparently she has an illness that sometimes causes weakness in her, hence the wheelchair, if she needs it. She seemed nice, and I managed to introduce myself to her as well. If all went well, perhaps she would be my first friend; though she wouldn’t be in for the next couple of days, to recover.

I waved goodbye as she took a bus back to wherever she lived. By luck, my phone started ringing, it was from Toya. He told me to meet him at “The Park”. I didn’t know where “The Park” was, but he said I’d find it if I just kept walking forwards. Being the incredibly sensible person I was, I decided to just go along with him, and just walked around in that general direction. And sure enough, two minutes later, I was in a huge park. There was a large pond in the middle, with little rowboats and everything. There was a young boy fishing, and sitting next to him, in a foldable chair, was Toya.

I inserted myself next to them and said a casual “Yo”. Toya pulled out a second foldable chair, and I sat down to chat.   
The young boy, in closer inspection, seemed to be about my age, maybe a little bit older. He was wearing a school uniform I didn’t recognise, but Toya seemed to know him.   
“Nice to meet you, I’m Kiko,” I held my hand out for him to shake.  
“And you are?”

He put down his fishing rod and shook my hand lightly,  
“I'm Akechi,” he said, with a slight tiredness to his voice,  
“Goro Akechi.” He picked up the fishing rod and looked for bait.

Toya leaned over to me,  
“He's been helping me out with a case we're working on, he's actually a really good detective. Or at least, he was.”  
Akechi gave Toya a cold stare, and then went back to fishing. He tried to put an insect on the end of his fishing hook, but wound up cutting his finger instead.

These shenanigans carried on for a little while, until it started getting dark. Akechi packed up his fishing gear and Toya soon followed along, packing the folding chairs into his bag. We all got up to go, but his phone rang not too long afterwards. He picked up the phone and listened intently.  
“Yes, this is Toya... Mhmm... Okay... What?” Toya looked concerned, as he closed his phone. Akechi seemed very troubled. Toya whispered something in his ear, and Akechi immediately fished his phone out of his bag. He then started pushing me away and told me to go home, which was rather rude at the time.

I slowly started to walk back, but then I heard a dry thud, and turned around to see Toya, fallen on the ground. I ran back to see what was happening, and I felt a sharp pain in my head.

Akechi was observing Toya, having a very obvious panic attack. His phone had a curious symbol on it, almost like an eye. But of course, I was more focused on my collapsed cousin.   
“Heart theft...” Akechi stammered, under his breath, raggedly. 

I was incredibly confused, though Akechi seemed to know exactly what was going on; but my questions would be unanswered, as in the next few seconds, my head was filled with a shard pain again, before I blacked.

But just before I fell, I swear I saw a monster, just above Akechi. It was a clear image, that would be burned into my mind. Pitch black, with horns. Like some sort of... demon.


End file.
